A Dangerous Gift

Chapter 14

Smirking Ryder shook his head. "If you say so, Tesoro." Leading me down another cobblestoned path I tried very hard not to drop my gelato as I got used to the path. "You're correct I did not grow up here. Born and raised in New York, until I was six. My mother met my father in this city, she was here helping a friend plan my aunt's wedding – Lorenzo's sister. When the wedding was over, he could not bear the thought of her leaving, so he kidnapped us and we lived here for a bit.

Arching a brow, I looked at Ryder. Shaking his head, I knew he knew what I was thinking. Like father, like son. No question about it when they want something, they just take it I guess.

"One thing that Lorenzo did not account for was my mother being so stubborn. She refused to let him take care of us." Pointing to an old light brown brick building, it looked like it could use some serious work. "That is where we stayed for the year and a half that we were stuck here."

"You guys were here for a year and a half ?" I gasped out in shock.

"Yep. Lorenzo was trying to win my mother over."

"And what better way to do it than to hold someone hostage," I joked and saw Ryder trying to fight a smile. "How romantic. You Bandini men sure know how to show women a good time. So did the year and a half work."

"Definitely not," Ryder let out a genuine laugh. "Lorenzo tried everything from flowers to paying her rent. Which did not work, because anyone who knows my mother knows she does not believe in taking handouts. In the end my mother decided to be his friend, which did not go over so well with my father."

"I can believe that." Picturing the stern rugged man from dinner the other night, he seemed like he had always gotten his way. "Your father seems like the type of man who has never heard the word no."

"You're right, Tesoro. My father is not used to hearing the word, no. Women just throw themselves at him, and when my mother used the word friend. My father was devastated. He let my mother and I go back to New York. I was crushed. I had made friends and I had a father figure who actually cared about me."

I could see the sadness in his eyes and knew what he felt. My mother never paid any attention to me and she took away the only family I ever knew. So, all of my life I felt unwanted, until I got to see my aunt and uncle. There was an abundance of love from them.

Leaning in closer to Ryder I tried to console the giant as we continued to walk.

"I didn't speak to my mother for months. I was so angry at her. Even though us going to Italy had been a rough start, it turned out to be a wonderful and amazing place in the eyes of a four-year-old. I thought that we were actually becoming a family and I felt like she ripped that away from me.

Then my sixth birthday rolled around, and my sperm donor promised to show up. He was trying to rekindle things with my mother." He gritted his teeth and clenched his fist tightly around the spoon in his hand. I don't even think he realized that he stopped walking. "I was so desperate, because that year had sucked. No friends to come to the party my mom wanted to throw for me, and hardly got to see my mother since she was always on a job hunt. So, I wanted to believe anything he told me.

I sat around waiting all day for him to show up, and he just didn't. It was in that moment that I realized you can't let everyone into your world because while he didn't show up the man that I call my father did. Lorenzo had remembered my birthday and thought that a phone call was a little too impersonal." Ryder's grip loosened on the spoon and a smile graced his lips again. "He flew thousands of miles just to wish me a happy birthday, even brought me a gift, Blaise. Turns out my best friend had missed me as well."

Ryder started walking again, guiding me across the road to where a group of people were gathered. Continuing to eat his gelato I assumed the story must be over. I didn't have to be a rocket scientist to know how the story ended. It's obvious that Lorenzo's gesture had proved to Alice that she could rely on him. Nothing is more important to a mother, than her child.